MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-31-2005

You have probably heard the old wives fable "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" or vise versa. Well January came in like a lion and went out like a lion! Our first month of full time deputation was jam packed with more action and excitement then one could possibly handle.

Saturday, we travelled up to Kahoka, MO for an all day Sunday meeting. We had a good evening of fellowship after we arrived. Pastor Wukmer and his wife were very gracious and hospitable. The Sunday meeting went well. I taught my first ladies Sunday School class. I don't know why I was nervous when I started. I've been doing teacher training classes for years. But I was nervous! It went very well. During Sunday School the boys got their first chance to cut with scissors! (Now Mommy needs to hide all scissors in the house!) They did pretty well for their first time. Both services went well. James preached in the morning and showed our slides and gave our testimony in the evening. They had a fellowship time for the church afterward. It was great to visit with people. I got to see a lady who was teaching in the Christian school I went to in kindergarten and first grade! I knew she looked familiar and then she pulled out a year book from my kindergarten year and showed my picture around. Wow! It is a small world!

On the way up to Kahoka the van began making a strange noise. We isolated it to the alternator. The trouble was we'd only had that one put on about two weeks ago. We got up there without any trouble and several of the men in the church looked at it to see if they could tell what was wrong. It appeared that the alternator fan was slipping and scraping the metal plate behind it. Because it was still under warranty we needed to get the van back home to our mechanic to have him fix it or the warranty would be voided. The men thought it would make it home. So we took off from church Sunday night and just prayed that all would be well. About 30 miles down the road the fan broke off and the serpentine belt slipped off. No harm was done to the van but we couldn't drive it. Thank God we had AAA! We called them and they had someone there in about 30 min. The tow truck driver agreed to take us home and let all six of us ride with him (otherwise someone would have had to come all the way there and get us – about 130 miles one way)! It was a long drive, to say the least! The kids all handled it great and even were able to sleep for part of the time. Thank God that the part was under warranty and is already fixed this morning. God had it all under control. Seems the recommended drive belt for the van (which the mechanic put on) was a bit too tight and so put too much pressure on the alternator. The mechanic put a slightly longer belt on after replacing the part and seems to think that will do the trick.

God has blessed us mightily this month. We've seen Him take one van from us but then turn around and work everything out with the other van. He has blessed us with some truly wonderful meetings and also with people being saved. All of our financial needs have been adequately met, even the unexpected ones. It is going to be very exciting to see how He continues to work in the months ahead.

We get a slight break this next week. Our next meeting is February 13-17. We are needing this break physically, especially since we've all seemed to get pretty worn down with colds and such. Everyone is doing better but it will be nice to have a chance to rest a bit in the next week or so.

Thank you for your prayers!